In Diebold We Trust

Click here. But we need to fix the states’ voting practices – now – so people can trust them. For starters, every voting machine needs a paper trail, for reliable recounts when necessary. Recounts must be triggered by either the closeness of the election or by significant discrepancies in the exit polls. And a lot more, but those two are completely fundamental.

I don’t know how many of the allegations in this list are fair . . . that 80% of all votes in America are counted by only two companies, Diebold and ES&S; that the president of one is the brother of the VP of the other; that they fail the appearance test for impartiality; that a chimpanzee was able to hack into one of the voting machines (I am hoping he might come and help me fix my sticky space bar problem) . . . but isn’t that the point? That reasonable people could have doubts about the integrity of elections in America? We need to fix this.

Look for results this time around. I may be naïve, but I think we’re going to get some.

$4 BILLION

James H.(writing before the election): “In light of recent events, I find the following morally disgusting: ’04 ELECTIONS EXPECTED TO COST NEARLY $4 BILLION.”

☞ We spend $5 or $6 billion a year marketing cigarettes. Is $4 billion every four years that much for marketing 940 candidates for national office? (Two candidates for president, 68 for Senate, 870 for House of Representatives.) The price of democracy?

Don’t forget to send in your fourth quarterly estimated tax payment today, if – because you have significant income not subject to withholding – you will owe a bunch of tax on April 15.